1301.0 - Year Book Australia, 2008
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 07/02/2008
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ACCIDENTS, INJURIES AND FATALITIES
Road traffic crashes Crashes involving fatalities The number of fatal road traffic crashes in 2006 (1,456) fell by 16 compared with 2005 (table 24.17). Between 2005 and 2006 fatal crashes in Western Australia rose by 21%, while the Australian Capital Territory, the Northern Territory, South Australia and Tasmania recorded falls of 52%, 24%, 18% and 14% respectively.
The number of people killed was lower in 2006 (1,601) compared with 2005, falling 1.6%. The number of people killed in Western Australia rose from 163 in 2005 to 202 in 2006. The number of people killed in the Australian Capital Territory fell from 26 in 2005 to 13 in 2006. Road traffic fatalities The number of deaths from road traffic crashes per 100,000 persons fell from 8.0 in 2005 to 7.8 in 2006. In 1970 the rate was 30.4. Road deaths per 100,000 persons in the Northern Territory in 2006 (20.3) was significantly higher than the national rate (table 24.18). The Australian Capital Territory had the lowest rate of road deaths (4.0 per 100,000 persons) in 2006. Western Australia recorded the greatest increase in road deaths per 100,000 persons, from 8.1 in 2005 to 9.9 in 2006, while the Australian Capital Territory recorded the greatest decrease in road deaths per 100,000 persons between 2005 and 2006, from 8.0 to 4.0.
The Northern Territory had the highest number of fatalities per 10,000 registered vehicles (3.7) in 2006. Between 2005 and 2006 fatalities per 10,000 registered vehicles fell in the Australian Capital Territory from 1.2 to 0.6. Road fatalities and fatality rates - 1926 to 2006 Australian road fatalities for the period 1926 to 2006 are shown in graph 24.19. Road fatalities per 10,000 registered vehicles and 100,000 persons for the same period are shown in graph 24.20. Until 1970, each year other than during the Depression and World War II had seen a steady growth in motor vehicle ownership and a corresponding increase in road deaths. By 1970 the number of vehicles had increased twelve-fold over the number in 1926 and the road toll had increased about four times to reach its highest mark of 3,798 deaths. The number of fatalities per 100,000 people also peaked in 1970 at 30.4. The road toll in 2006 of 1,601 was less than half the 1970 figure, while the number of fatalities per 100,000 people (8.0) for 2006 was less than a third of that of 1970. Also, while there were 8.0 road fatalities per 10,000 registered vehicles in 1970, this rate has decreased to 1.1 in 2006. Characteristics of fatal crashes Two characteristics of fatal crashes for 2001 and 2006 are shown in table 24.21.
In both 2001 and 2006 the majority of fatal crashes occurred on roads where the posted speed limit was 100 kilometres/hour (km/h) and above (44% in 2006), followed by roads with a speed limit of up to 60 km/h (33%). A further 23% of fatal crashes occurred on roads with speed zones of between 65 km/h and 95 km/h. In both 2001 and 2006 the highest proportion of fatal crashes was single vehicle crashes (41% and 47% respectively). Pedestrian crashes accounted for 18% of crash types in 2001 and 15% in 2006.International comparisons of road traffic deaths Australian road traffic deaths are compared with those for other selected OECD nations in table 24.22. Australia's rate of 8.0 road deaths per 100,000 persons in 2005 is considerably lower than the rates of the United States of America (14.7), Poland (14.3), the Republic of (South) Korea (13.2) and Portugal (11.8). Australia's rate is, however, markedly higher than Sweden (4.9) and Switzerland and the United Kingdom (5.5).
Australia's rate of road deaths per 10,000 registered vehicles (1.2) was below the OECD median (1.4). For the countries listed, the Republic of (South) Korea has the highest death rate per 10,000 registered vehicles (3.4). The number of fatalities per 100 mill. vehicle-kilometres travelled in Australia in 2005 (0.8) was slightly lower than the OECD median (0.9). Air accidents Since 1996 the number of aircraft accidents has declined by 56%, from 203 in 1996 to 89 in 2006 (graph 24.23). The number of fatal accidents fell from 23 to 18 over the same period. In 2006 there were 33 fatalities involving registered civil aircraft, compared with 19 in 2005. In 2006 there were 89 accidents of which 18 were fatal, compared with 109 accidents of which 12 were fatal in 2005.
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